Top juniors soar in Mammoth spring series

The annual FIS Spring Series at California’s Mammoth Mountain saw consistent performances from a number of different racers, with newly crowned Ski Racing Junior of the Year award winners Leanne Smith and Will Brandenburg leading the way on the top step of the podium.
THE ANNUAL FIS Spring Series at California’s Mammoth Mountain saw consistent performances from a number of different racers, with newly crowned Ski Racing Junior of the Year award winners Leanne Smith and Will Brandenburg leading the way on the top step of the podium.
    Smith won both super G races, while Brandenburg won four of the six races in the series, including both slaloms.
    Smith edged out Chelsea Marshall by seven-hundredths to win the opening women’s super G on April 9. Her winning margin dwindled to five-hundredths in the April 10 super G as she nipped World Cup veteran and Mammoth local Stacey Cook for the win. Fellow junior Kiley Staples finished fourth in both super G’s, and Keely Kelleher finished fifth in both.
    Cook and Katie Hitchcock posted wins in the two giant slaloms, and each finished third in the race she didn’t win. Caitlin Ciccone finished second behind Hitchcock in the opener and fourth the next day, while Kelleher tallied a fifth and a second, respectively, in the two races.
    Ciccone won the first slalom of the week on April 13, beating Laurel Carter by more than three tenths. Jamie Kingsbury was third, Hitchcock fourth and Kelleher fifth in the opener. Carter won the second slalom and final race of the week on April 14, turning back Jenny Lathrop by almost a second. Staples, Hailey Duke and Cook rounded out the top five.
    The men’s super G races turned into a podium battle between Brandenburg, Travis Ganong and Errol Kerr. Brandenburg won the opener by three-hundredths over Kerr with Max Hammer third and Ganong fourth. Ganong won the second race, with Kerr second and Brandenburg third.
    Junior Andrew Phillips produced a pair of top-four finishes in GS, including a win in the opener April 11 where the 17-year-old turned back Canada’s Scott Hume by two-tenths. Brandenburg, Ganong, Hume — also a standout at the University of Nevada — and Phillips completed the top four in the April 12 race.
    Brandenburg sizzled in the slalom, his strongest event, winning each by more than a second. He clocked 1 minute, 27.20 seconds in the opener, with Hume crossing second well back in 1:28.73, followed by Martin Harris, Travis Gaylord and Phillips. Day two, Brandenburg beat second-place Ganong by 1.03 seconds, with Gaylord third.